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VOLUME 171 • ISSUE 139 | $1.00
mtdemocrat.com
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2022
Realtor® DRE#01308662
Mountain Democrat photo by Andrew Vonderschmitt
The Placerville Drive bridge over Hangtown Creek bridge has been awaiting replacement for a quarter century. Now wrapped into the Placerville Drive Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Project, the project has new hope.
Plans to replace obsolete bridge in motion again Andrew Vonderschmitt Staff writer
Mountain Democrat photos by Eric Jaramishian
The Placerville City Council unanimously approved replacement of the Placerville Drive bridge over Hangtown Creek at an estimated cost of $10,423,800. The project is fully funded through the federal Highway Bridge Program. As far back as the mid-90s, the bridge on Placerville Drive has been on the city’s to-do list. However, multiple setbacks have prevented improvement or replacement of the bridge. “Thank you for allowing me to present this item,” said City Engineer Rebecca Neves. “It’s been 25 years in the making.” The bridge was first determined in 1997 to be functionally obsolete as a two-lane bridge. The bridge replacement’s preliminary engineering phase stretched beyond its 10-year limit due to extensive design challenges, according to Neves. Extensions were granted in 2007 and 2009. Working with Caltrans, in 2012 city staff closed the project and a new project was opened to include a four-lane bridge with a median, sidewalks and shoulder. Just under $650,000 in federal funding was secured for preliminary engineering and Quincy Engineering was awarded the contract. Progress on the project slowed and by 2015 stopped altogether. The engineering contract with Quincy expired in 2016. When the Placerville Drive Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Project was being developed in 2017 the bridge replacement project landed inside its boundaries. It made sense to include the bridge replacement in the capital improvement project. In 2018 City Council approved a consulting services contract for Dewberry Engineers for both the bicycle and pedestrian facilities and bridge replacement for a combined amount not to exceed $2,108,998.29.
PLACE ADDRESS LABEL HERE
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See BRIDGE, page A3
Margaret, Josiah, Jack and Noah Danielson from Sacramento cut down a picture-perfect Christmas tree at Crystal Creek Tree Farm in Camino Nov. 22.
Finding a jolly holiday edge on evergr eens Eric Jaramishian Staff writer Some El Dorado County Christmas tree farms opened early this year, allowing families to beat the Thanksgiving weekend rush. Carson Ridge Evergreens on Carson Road in Camino opened Nov. 19, a business strategy owner Cathy Morgan implemented during COVID-19related shutdowns in 2020 to give customers more options on days to schedule their tree hunting experience in the Sierra Nevada. “What’s so nice about it is without so many people, I’m actually able to talk to people and find out more
Carson Ridge Evergreens employee Cole Locher trims up a Douglas fir. about them,” Morgan said. “When there is an avalanche of people here, I can’t really do that.” Morgan stated about 80% of her business comes from people traveling from outside of the county for a
quality tree, even getting customers from as far as Southern California. Crystal Creek Tree Farm, owned by the Kobervig family, also gets a bulk of its customers from out of the county, according to Dee Kobervig. Past
visitors to the farm hail from Davis, Vacaville or the Bay Area. Kobervig said Crystal Creek started opening early 25 years ago during a time when military personnel was being deployed after Thanksgiving. Military families wanted to celebrate Christmas on Thanksgiving. Now she finds folks have all sorts of reasons for picking up a tannenbaum a little early. “The kids are usually home from college right now and they don’t get off until a week or two before Christmas so (the parents) want the kids there to decorate the tree early,” Kobervig ■
See EVERGREENS, page A6
Barton moves forward with expansion News release Barton Health is moving forward with its regional expansion that will broaden medical services. A clear direction has emerged for the expansion — Barton Health will develop plans for a new, Nevada-based hospital and a robust outpatient presence on both the California and Nevada campuses. “We are excited to receive this direction from the board of directors, securing Barton’s future as Lake Tahoe’s community health partner,” stated President and CEO of Barton Health Dr. Clint Purvance in a
news release. “The future of healthcare is complex and changing and we have a responsibility to remain viable and capable of providing care to this community for another 60 years, which is why we are developing plans for the Barton regional expansion.” Throughout the project, Barton has been guided by input from community surveys, stakeholders, partner agencies and physician and staff teams, along with data from the triennial community health needs assessment, market trends, current health data, state regulations and seismic requirements for healthcare facilities.
It became clear that California’s 2030 seismic standard — a mandate requiring hospitals to meet new structural criteria — will require Barton Health to build a new hospital as the current, aging infrastructure will not meet the requirements. “Rebuilding and retrofitting the current hospital facility to meet our needs and regulations would require a complex and financially-prohibitive staging and moving of patient care services while the project is constructed in multiple, years■
See BARTON, page A5